A nice article in the NY Times and some poignant photos if you hit the link.
… when she returned to her hometown for a visit shortly after the attacks, she enlisted locals and relatives to help create a memorial garden on a one-acre plot of family land in a section of town called Ringfinnan. By November 2001, a small grove had formed. On St. Patrick’s Day the following year, the Ringfinnan Garden of Remembrance officially opened.
“It was something to stand the test of time,” Mr. Murphy said. “After the fact, after the grief surrounding the whole event, it could be something that would be left.”
Ms. Murphy died in 2011, at the age of 66, after a five-year battle with ovarian cancer, which her family believes was not connected to her time spent at ground zero.
Today, the young trees planted 22 years ago have grown into mature sycamores and oaks, each shading a sign that bears the name of a firefighter in bold, black print. On Monday, a group of locals — residents, town councilors, maybe a priest or two — will gather in the garden for a quiet moment of reflection.
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“For all of us here whose parents are Irish born, our D.N.A. is really from Ireland,” said the Rev. Christopher Keenan, 81, a friend of Father Judge’s who replaced him as a Fire Department chaplain.
A firefighting tradition has continued among New York’s Irish families since immigrants from Ireland began arriving in the city in large numbers in the mid-19th century. Mr. Murphy, 42, said that when he tends to the trees, making good on a promise he made to his aunt over a decade ago, he is struck by how many of the names on them are Irish: Ahearns, Boyles, Farrellys, Quinns.
According to a tracker created by researchers at the University of Notre Dame, at least 19 countries have Sept. 11 memorials, including Brazil, Italy and New Zealand.
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